Aaron Bates, who started his career as member of the Lowell Spinners in 2006, has always been a fast riser. After just one month in Lowell, Bates was promoted to Greenville where he continued to do nothing but hit. In 2007, after starting the season in Lancaster, Bates found himself in Portland by the end of the season as California League pitchers proved to be no-match.

Off to a slow start in Portland to begin the 2008 season, Bates broke out of a season long slumber in a big way with his first home run, a grand slam, of the season and a single-game record tying SEVEN RBI on Tuesday, May 6 against the New Hampshire Fisher Cats.

The 14th ranked top prospect in the Red Sox organization (per SoxProspects.com pre-season rankings), Bates is no stranger to records. During the 2006 season with the JetHawks, Bates homered four times in ONE GAME, becoming the first player in the 66-year history of the California League to do so.

Congratulations, Aaron!

To say it has been a crazy couple of days for Christian Lara (2004 Lowell Spinners). Lara was assigned to the Red Sox Class-A Advanced affiliate Lancaster Jethawks to start the season, his fifth year in the Red Sox organization. On Monday, April 7, Lara found himself on the bench to start the game as the Jethawks took on the Inland Empire 66ers, a Los Angeles Dodgers affiliate (managed by former Red Sox infielder John Valentin). With the game tied at three with 15-innings completed and the 11:50 curfew approaching, the game was suspended to be continued the next day.

In the locker room after the game was suspended, Lara was summoned into manager Chad Epperson’s office and informed he had been traded to the Dodgers organization and being assigned to Inland Empire, the team he was just cheering his teammates on against. For the first time in his professional career, Lara had been traded, only his travels would only take him to the visiting club house.

To complicate matters even more, Lara spent the evening after he was traded in his apartment he shared with now former teammates Jimmy James (2007 Spinners) and Jorge Jimenez (2006/2007 Spinners) in Lancaster. However, because of the liability issues and the fact Lara was now a member of the Dodgers organization, he was unable to travel on the Lancaster team bus back down to Inland Empire for the conclusion of the suspended game and the regularly scheduled game to follow. After a clubhouse staffer arrived in Lancaster to pick Lara and his belongings up, he was finally able to settle into his new surroundings and started the next game.

When the game was resumed on Tuesday, Lara was an eligible player, though he did not get into the game. After spending 15-innings rooting for the Jethawks, he was now supporting his new teammates in Dodger blue. Lara didn’t get into the game, won by the Jethawks, but did start later that evening at shortstop for the regularly scheduled game.

Certainly a strange couple of days for Christian, but we wish him the best in the Dodgers organization.

To read more about Christian’s odyssey, click here.

Photo Courtesy of Minor League Baseball (http://milb.com)

 Zak Farkes, Photo Credit: Jim Davis/Boston Globe

When fans saw local product Zak Farkes make his professional debut with the Spinners in 2005, he was an infielder. When he returned in 2006, he spent the bulk of his time at third base. However, since leaving Lowell, the Harvard-educated, Boston-born Farkes has moved behind the plate and faired quite well. After a solid season split between Lancaster and Greenville, Farkes is following the tutelage of Red Sox captain Jason Varitek and Doug Mirabelli in learning his new position. Farkes details all that and more in this Boston Globe article.

Two of Lowell’s favorite Red Sox prospects are attending their first Major League Spring Training. Justin Masterson (2006) and Jed Lowrie (2005) are giving fans a first hand perspective of what it is like to participate in Spring Training with the defending World Champions.

Two of the Red Sox top prospects, Masterson and Lowrie were both mentioned frequently in trade discussions for Johan Santana. With Santana in Queens, Justin and Jed will keep the Spinner faithful updated from Fort Myers.

Click here to read more and keep track with their progress all spring!

Ever wonder what it’s like to be a (Canala)gator for a day?

Boston Herald writer Darren Garnick found out, and now you can read his entire entry online by clicking here.

Every year, Baseball America — the preeminent source for baseball prospect information — publishes it’s top ten prospects in each organization. This year’s Red Sox top ten list includes a whopping seven former Spinners.

Following are quotes on the former Spinners ranked:

Ranked #1: Clay Buchholz, 2005 Spinner. “There’s some thought that he’s more athletic and faster than Jacoby Ellsbury.”

Ranked #2: Jacoby Ellsbury, 2005 Spinner. “But he’s clearly their center fielder of the future, and the future is soon.”

Ranked #4: Justin Masterson, 2006 Spinner. “He has the power sinker and the mentality to close games, though in Boston he’d be a set-up man for Jonathan Papelbon.”

Ranked #5: Jed Lowrie, 2005 Spinner. “Lowrie’s bat will play at second or third base, but there are no infield openings in Boston.”

Ranked #6: Ryan Kalish, 2007 Spinner. “Kalish’s approach and plate discipline are quite advanced for his age, which combined with his sweet lefty swing should mean he’ll have little trouble hitting for average.”

Ranked #8: Nick Hagadone, 2007 Spinner: “If he moves to the bullpen, he could rocket to the majors quickly.”

Ranked #9: Oscar Tejeda, 2007 Spinner: “His arm strength first drew the interest of scouts when he was 14, and he makes accurate throws as well.“

When the minor league season concludes in early September, the work is not done for many of the Red Sox top young prospects, including many former Spinners. With the end of the Red Sox instructional league, many of your favorite Spinners hit the road, traveling to Arizona, Hawaii and various locales throughout the Caribbean and South America to continue their journey to the big leagues.

In the Zone

The Arizona Fall League has become known as a launching pad for big league prospects to make the leap to Major League stars. As Spinners alumni Freddy Sanchez and Jacoby Ellsbury have done in the past, Jed Lowrie is out to make a name for himself after a breakout 2007 season. Lowrie, a 2005 Spinners teammate of Ellsbury and Clay Buchholz, seems poised to be the next prospect to join the Red Sox. Playing for the Mesa Solar Sox, Lowrie has been playing both shortstop and second base, batting .157 with one home run. While Lowrie has struggled thus far with the Solar Sox, 2002 Spinner catcher Dusty Brown has seen his stock rise substantially. Added to the Red Sox 40-man roster following the World Series, Brown is batting .294 and was selected to the AFL’s Rising Star All-Star game. Other former Spinners playing in Arizona include: Hunter Jones (’05), Jose Vaquedano (’03/’04) and Randy Newsom (’04). Not to be forgotten, 2006 Spinners’ intern Ben Baroody is making a name for himself as the Phoenix Desert Dogs’ operations manager.

Hawaii 5-0

Jimmy James (’07) dominated the New York Penn League competition during his brief time in Lowell to start the 2007 season, earning him a quick promotion to Greenville. James has been equally impressive in Hawaii, compiling a 2-2 record with a 3.69 ERA, with 37 strikeouts and just 10 walks, pitching for the Honolulu Sharks. James is making a strong case to be considered for a quick jump to Portland, should he get off to a fast start in Lancaster in 2008.

2006-07 Spinners table-setter Ryan Kalish was scheduled to join Jimmy in Hawaii, but suffered a setback in his recovery from a broken hamate bone and was forced to skip the league to be ready for the start of the 2008 season.

Spicing it up

While the prospects playing in Hawaii and Arizona are assigned to the leagues by the Red Sox, several players have taken it upon themselves to head to foreign countries further their baseball goals. Leading the way is 2007 World Series Champion and 2003 Lowell Spinner, Brandon Moss, learning how to play first base with Aguilas in the Dominican Winter League. Moss is batting .326 with four RBI in 11 games.

Another former Spinner off to a fast start this winter is Carlos Fernandez-Oliva (’07), who is 8-for-22 in 12 games playing with the Tiburones de La Guaira in the Venezuelan Winter League. Additionally, 2005 Spinners teammates Christian Lara and Harvey Garcia are together again for the Leones del Caracas in the VWL with potential 2008 Spinner Luis Sumoza.

Kevin Youkilis was named the Gold Glove winner for American League first basemen yesterday, making him the first former Spinner to be awarded the honor.

Youkilis did not allow an error in 135 regular season games as a first baseman for the Red Sox this season, becoming the second ever first baseman to record a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage in a season.

Congratulations, Kevin! Read about his award here: http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2007/11/07/its_a_first_youkilis_has_that_golden_touch/

Former Spinners skipper and Sox first base coach Luis Alicea also received some credit for the Red Sox improved infield defense in 2007:

(Youkilis) was part of an excellent defensive infield, one helped by the work of coach Luis Alicea, who gets very little credit. Alicea helped Youkilis make the conversion to first, helped Dustin Pedroia in his first season as a major league second baseman (working with the rookie almost daily), and got Julio Lugo to reduce his errors and completely change his mechanics. The work of Mike Lowell speaks for itself.

Doggy was all over the papers again after Game One of the World Series. Check out the Thursday, October 25 edition of the Boston Herald. Page 5 features a huge photo of your top dog. And the photo was even on the frontpage of bostonherald.com! Check it out below.

If you saw the Spinners’ own Dogman on TV during Fox’s ALCS Game 7 pregame show, you know the D-O-Double-G was in Fenway Park to take in all of the action.

If you missed him on TV, click here for more proof, courtesy of Boston.com.

Dogman and the rest of the Spinners crew wish the Red Sox the best in the World Series!